Dipoto on Angels' 4-10 start: 'It's on us to pull ourselves out'

Angels general manager Jerry Dipoto on the team's pitching woes thus far this season: "We have experienced pitchers who have a track record for delivering performance, and we expect them to do that." JAE C. HONG, ASSOCIATED PRESS

Jerry Dipoto has heard all of the criticism heaped upon the Angels, and he’s not here to deny any of it.

“It’s justified,” the Angels general manager said by phone Wednesday, hours before the Angels’ game against the Minnesota Twins was postponed by rain. “We’re more talented than a team that should start the season 4-10. We did that to ourselves. Now it’s on us to pull ourselves out of it.”

Despite a $148 million payroll and a lineup that includes three of baseball’s biggest stars, the Angels have equaled the worst start in franchise history essentially because of poor pitching, mostly in the rotation.

A second consecutive poor start, and a second consecutive disappointing performance by the pitching staff, has sparked some public heat on Manager Mike Scioscia and pitching coach Mike Butcher.

Dipoto said it would be “unfair” for him to publicly evaluate the job of either, but he indicated that the blame should not be heaped on anyone in particular.

“We’re all in this together,” he said.

Dipoto also said the answers weren’t going to be found through other players, either in the farm system or on other clubs.

“Our best players are on our big league club,” Dipoto said. “We have a very good team. … I think the issues we need to overcome will be overcome by the guys we have on the field. They are here for a reason.”

Diagnosing the Angels problems is pretty simple. They have a 5.43 ERA, which ranks last in the majors. Their starters have a 6.07 ERA, also last in the majors. The three new starters – Joe Blanton, Jason Vargas and Tommy Hanson – have combined to go 1-6 with a 7.36 ERA. They have had a starter throw a pitch past the sixth inning in only one of their 14 games. Ace Jered Weaver had two shaky starts and he left the second with a broken left elbow that will sideline him until at least mid-May.

“Clearly we haven’t pitched well, particularly the starting rotation,” Dipoto said. “We need to be more consistent, work in positive counts. We need to manage situations better than we’ve managed and pitch deeper into games, simple as that. We’ve put a lot of burden on our bullpen to absorb the middle of the game. It’s very difficult and it’s something that can not continue. We have experienced pitchers who have a track record for delivering performance, and we expect them to do that. We are in a collective funk and we have to work our way out.”

Besides the pitching, the Angels have had a problem with clutch hitting. Although their .268 batting average ranks third in the league, they are 12th in the league in runs because of a major-league worst .155 average with runners in scoring position.

“The idea that our offense has yet to get completely on track is probably true,” Dipoto said. “We’ve got a host of guys that are individually swinging the bats well. Unfortunately we aren’t able to link it together as consistently as we need to do.”

Cleanup hitter Josh Hamilton, who signed a $125-million deal in the winter, is batting .200. He seemed to be coming out of his slump with a pair of homers over the weekend, but he’s hitless in eight at-bats so far in this series in Minnesota.

“He’s had streaks, particularly through the weekend, where I thought he was seeing the ball really well, and other streaks where he hasn’t,” Dipoto said. “It’s the typical ups and downs of a season. Unfortunately for Josh, I don’t think this the type of start he would envision for any season, much less the first one with a new club, but I don’t think its anything out of the ordinary. We’re two weeks into the season.”

Of some small consolation to Dipoto is the fact that many of these players also went through last season’s 6-14 start and still managed to rebound to win 89 games, remaining in the playoff hunt until the final week of the season.

However, he also doesn’t want to get much deeper along this path and try to navigate another uphill climb.

“We are a very talented team that is right now a not very good team,” Dipoto said. “It’s incumbent on us to get through that. It’s the 25 guys on the field, the front office and the coaching staff. We need to pull together and find a way.”

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